Small EVs- 2020

RioSafari

Hi, currently own a Hyundai i10 petrol car but it's 10 years old and starting to give us a few problems. It isn't used much, we cycle to work so it's just bringing the kids to sports and a weekly shop at the weekend mostly.

I'd like to get an EV this year to replace it, but we park in our back garden and the entry lane is tiny. The i10 barely fits, with wing mirrors folded in. The newer model i10 (2014 I think) is too big.

I think a Renault Zoe may just about fit, but I'll have to measure to the exact millimeter.

Has anyone got any info about new smaller EVs coming to market soon please?

Thanks!

peasant

The e-go life is coming next year ...starting from 16 k
https://www.e-go-mobile.com/site/assets/files/3835/ego_life_produktinformationen_en_05_2019.pdf

No idea if/when there will be a RHD version though

User1998

Seat mii is going electric but not sure if it will be sold here

Ryath

Seat Mi, Skoda Citygo and VW e Up EV look to be closest in size. 5cm wider than the i10 Not clear if they will be brought here but will be available in the UK.

If you think the newer model i10 is too wide the Zoe definitely is at 7cm wider again.

Dont be at yourself

A brand new EV may not be worth it if you're just tootling about on the weekends and not using it for a commute, given the greater up-front cost.

According to the below, a 2011 i10 has a width of 1.59M -- that's a good bit smaller than new EVs like the e-Corsa (1.76M) and even the Smart EQ (1.66M).

https://www.automobiledimension.com/car-comparison.php#!

Do you absolutely need to park in the back garden? It's a huge limiting factor if so.

FAMLEE

Do your bit for the environment.. do some maintenance on your current car & keep it going for another 10 years.

PaulRyan97

If you want to go electric then a Zoe, E-Up, Citigo-E or Mii Electric are you're only choices. If you're doing such a small amount of driving though I wouldn't bother buying new. You can probably pick up a 3-4 year old used Yaris hybrid for about €12-13k.

Sabre Man

FAMLEE wrote: »

Do your bit for the environment.. do some maintenance on your current car & keep it going for another 10 years.

It will still pollute the local environment. It's better to convert it to electric.

RioSafari

Thanks all, some good food for thought there! Will likely be buying used, if anything at all...

Ryath

If you are limited to second hand there's very little our there. The Zoe is the only small ev that's anyway common out there and it's 13.5cm wider than your i10. It looks like a small car because of it's bubbly shape but is actually bigger than the Clio.

Mitsubishi I-miev is about the only other one out there range is poor though and they are pretty crap.

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/mitsubishi-i-miev/23794213

If your i10 really is uneconomical to repair a petrol Toyota Aygo is probably your best option.

Patser

Everyone always forgets the Renault Twizy, although tbf everyone probably has a point - however if it is just for tootling about in a Twizy might suit in this case

Edit: even more to point not a single 2nd hand one advertised in Ireland

unkel

Patser wrote: »

Everyone always forgets the Renault Twizy

Nope didn't forget. But the OP mainly needs their car to bring kids to sport. And for the weekly family shop. No can do in the Twizy for either

Ryath

Twizy is only a 2 seater though. Op did mention kids so unless he just brings one at a time!

Patser

unkel wrote: »

Nope didn't forget. But the OP mainly needs their car to bring kids to sport. And for the weekly family shop. No can do in the Twizy for either

Ahh but the Twizy cargo version might manage the shop

Patser

More serious other options:

E Corsa and e 205 launch next year, but as said could be pricey new.

Mitsubishi iMiev/ Citron ions might be available cheap, but they weren't great new, so can only guess how poor their range would be now.

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/mitsubishi-i-miev/23794213

BMW i3 is relatively narrow as only a 4 seater and has folding mirrors. Car dimension website shows it as 10 cm wider than i10


Edit again- only rereading that it's at 2010 i10 we're talking about, i3 is too wide

Mike9832

Mini Cooper for €27,000 would be nice

Little rocket with 184bhp

PaulRyan97

OP is looking for a small, efficient car that will see minimal usage. I don't think he wants to drop €27k on a new Mini.

Mike9832

PaulRyan97 wrote: »

OP is looking for a small, efficient car that will see minimal usage. I don't think he wants to drop €27k on a new Mini.

Should keep what he/she has then

PaulRyan97

Mike9832 wrote: »

Should keep what he/she has then

As they said in their original post, it's starting to give trouble. Don't know to what extent but obviously they're worried there will be a growing cost of repairs to be done.

Mike9832

PaulRyan97 wrote: »

As they said in their original post, it's starting to give trouble. Don't know to what extent but obviously they're worried there will be a growing cost of repairs to be done.

It's hardly €10,000+ plus worth of trouble

It's a simple small petrol

liamog

Otther than a Zoe, you could consider a 2014 VW e-Up, summer range is about 130km, and winter range closer around 95km. According to Wikipedia it's around 4.5 cm wider than the 2009 i10, versus the Zoe being about 13 cm wider.

In my opinion its a nicer car than the Zoe. It charges in 20 mins at a CCS charger. You'd need to import from tge UK, but if interested one of the Irish EV specialists can source cars on request.

lawred2

liamog wrote: »

Otther than a Zoe, you could consider a 2014 VW e-Up, summer range is about 130km, and winter range closer around 95km. According to Wikipedia it's around 4.5 cm wider than the 2009 i10, versus the Zoe being about 13 cm wider.

In my opinion its a nicer car than the Zoe. It charges in 20 mins at a CCS charger. You'd need to import from tge UK, but if interested one of the Irish EV specialists can source cars on request.

Who are the specialist importers?

Shefwedfan

lawred2 wrote: »

Who are the specialist importers?

Electric Autos
Next Eco Car
someone elsein Athlone to name a few

Shefwedfan

With the amount of mileage you are doing is it worth buying an expensive electric car? would you be able to pick up a newer i10 with less mileage etc and just keep in the same version?

The original i10 was 1595mm and the newer is 1660mm. The eUp is 1910mm. The Zoe is 1945mm.

I doubt you are going to get an electric car that small unless you bring in something from India/China on special order and would cost a fortune.

Go to parker.co.uk and you can find all the details. Now maybe pushing in wing mirrors might reduce size etc but I would doubt it.

Ryath

Shefwedfan wrote: »

The original i10 was 1595mm and the newer is 1660mm. The eUp is 1910mm. The Zoe is 1945mm.

You're including wing mirrors in measurements for eUp and Zoe should be 1641 and 1730 respectively.

Mike9832

Mike9832 wrote: »

Mini Cooper for €27,000 would be nice

Little rocket with 184bhp

It uses i3 battery/motor. Nothing wrong with that of course + the i3 is probably a lot lighter.

The i3 is quite spacious inside too and great for getting small Children in and out of their car seats.

The only economical thing to do is fix up the current car and keep it properly maintained. If mileage is small then makes no sense to change really, if the car really is that troublesome then there are plenty of small cheap Petrol cars out there.

The public charging network is still in pretty bad shape so If this is your only car then you might be better off sticking with Petrol for the time being. Except the i3 which has 140-220 Kms Pure EV range and has the petrol backup generator so it can be taken anywhere any time and can replace a petrol/diesel car entirely.

liamog

Ryath wrote: »

You're including wing mirrors in measurements for eUp and Zoe should be 1641 and 1730 respectively.

Hard to find numbers for the i10 with mirrors, but looks like 1943mm according to https://www.carleasingmadesimple.com/data/hyundai/i10/width-including-mirrors/

graememk

Time to get a tape measure out and measure the driveway/alley

liamog

Deleted User wrote: »

The only economical thing to do is fix up the current car and keep it properly maintained. If mileage is small then makes no sense to change really, if the car really is that troublesome then there are plenty of small cheap Petrol cars out there.

It can really depend on the car, our old Punto was no end of problems. We spent around €6,000 between 2013 and the end of 2016 keeping it on the road. It really was a money pit. It had got to the point we were to budgeting the €2,000 as expected, between that and the €200 a month we were spending on petrol it gave us a lot of room to switch.

If your annual maintenance is coming in as high as that, then it's probably worth upgrading to a newer car.

pdpmur

Shefwedfan wrote: »

The original i10 was 1595mm and the newer is 1660mm. The eUp is 1910mm. The Zoe is 1945mm.

I doubt you are going to get an electric car that small unless you bring in something from India/China on special order and would cost a fortune.

Maybe China will come to you - in the form of the Renault City K-ZE
Width - 1580mm - right up you alley! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_City_K-ZE)
(No smoke signals from Renault on dates, so it may be 2021 rather than 2020)

RioSafari

Wow, sorry, didn't get online yesterday and I see loads of new suggestions.

I agree that the most economical thing to do is repair any issues with my current i10. At the moment it's actually not too expensive and has a valid NCT for another 12 months. It's "only" ten years old so I don't expect it to be too costly, unless we have a serious problem, so it's definitely not €25k+ of repairs to warrant a new mini Cooper or an i3 BMW...

Someone mentioned the I-Miev/ Citron C- Zero. The range is always mentioned as poor, but Tesco is only 4 KMs away! How poor are we talking? If going anywhere much further than the M50, we tend to hire a bigger car. We also use Go Cars on occasion in town.

So, probably worth keeping the i10 going, till maybe that new Renault is released here...

Patser

The ad I posted for the imiev claims 90km on a charge - that'll probably drop to 70km in freezing weather or if you go at 120km/h (which in an imiev I believe requires a tailwind, downhill over a cliff)

Still very narrow car, only €3,500 advertised price and grand car for local runs

I just don't think the current gen 2nd hand electrics are up to the job of replacing an ICE car if it's the only car + the recharging infrastructure certainly isn't up to the job , perhaps when an i3 Rex can be got for the same money as the OP might want to pay, unlimited range, no recharging worries and the Rex can make up for any battery degradation, it's just a real shame Nissan didn't install some kind of Rex in the beginning it would make it much more desirable 2nd hand.

liamog

Depends entirely on your usage, OP is driving a small city car and has already mentioned hiring a bigger car for longer trips. To be honest, they sound like an ideal candidate for a 2014-2017. We've been full EV since 2017 and wouldn't look back at all. Daily commutes of 50km mean both cars are well within comfortable range and the public infrastructure is good enough if you do longer journeys approximately once a month, especially now that paid charging has made it somewhat more dependable.

Mike9832

liamog wrote: »

Depends entirely on your usage, OP is driving a small city car and has already mentioned hiring a bigger car for longer trips. To be honest, they sound like an ideal candidate for a 2014-2017. We've been full EV since 2017 and wouldn't look back at all. Daily commutes of 50km mean both cars are well within comfortable range and the public infrastructure is good enough if you do longer journeys approximately once a month, especially now that paid charging has made it somewhat more dependable.

Why once a month Liam?

Is it not reliable once a week?

liamog

Mike9832 wrote: »

Why once a month Liam?

Is it not reliable once a week?

I'm only going to use public rapid infrastructure when I need to, which works out about once a month. Both our families are in Dublin (or outside Ireland) so its not like we need to do long trips every weekend. I'm sure someone who does that can speak to their own experience.